Joint operation of the Tax Agency and the National Police

• A total of 16 people have been arrested in Alicante, Barcelona, Malaga and Murcia, some of whom had previously been convicted of violent crimes committed in Poland.
• The dismantled group contacted a woman in Spain known for her links to international cocaine trafficking, with whom they tried to establish a line to send narcotics by air from Colombia to the Netherlands.
• During the investigation, a shipment of 200 kilograms of marijuana destined for Scandinavian countries was seized, leading to the arrest of five people.

October 8, 2022.- Customs Surveillance officials of the Tax Agency, in a joint operation with agents of the National Police, have dismantled a Polish-Danish criminal organization allegedly dedicated to drug trafficking from Spain to the rest of Europe. A total of 16 people have been arrested in the Malaga towns of Alhaurín de la Torre, Fuengirola, Marbella and Málaga, in the Murcian municipalities of Los Alcázares, Mazarrón and Murcia, in the Barcelona towns of Premiá de Dalt and Barcelona, and in the Alicante town of Orihuela.

The investigations began during the summer of 2020, when agents received confidential information alerting them to a woman of Colombian origin who had been living in Marbella for decades, and who was preparing a large shipment of cocaine from South America to Spain. This woman, who enjoyed a high standard of living, lived in a mansion of more than 3,000 square metres valued at around three million euros.

Due to her high financial resources and the relationships she had in the past with important national and foreign criminals, the investigation focused on her with the aim of gathering evidence not only of activity related to drug trafficking, but also to money laundering that could arise from the crimes against public health that were being investigated. These police actions linked the suspect with a German man who was convicted in 2014 for introducing 200 kilos of cocaine into Denmark, and who was currently part of a Polish organisation based in Spain, specialising in sending large quantities of narcotics by road from Spain to the Nordic and Central European countries, having identified shipments to Germany, Poland, Norway and Denmark, among others.

The leader of the group had an extensive criminal record

The organization was made up of Polish citizens. Some of them had criminal records in their country of origin for having belonged to different criminal groups dedicated to drug trafficking and who used violence in their criminal activity.

At the head of this organization was a Danish citizen living in Barcelona. This individual had an extensive criminal record in his country of origin, which is why he was in the crosshairs of the Danish police authorities. Furthermore, his illicit assets, hidden behind a complex business network, were being investigated by both the Spanish and Danish authorities.

During the more than two years that the investigation has lasted, evidence was gathered about a shipment of cocaine by air that the suspects had prepared at the end of 2020. For this shipment, the suspect allegedly received a significant amount of cash as an advance.

In 2021, Customs Surveillance officers from the Tax Agency in Madrid and agents from the National Police located three people involved in cocaine trafficking in Murcia and Alicante. Her supplier turned out to be one of the contacts of the woman under investigation.

That same year, a drug deal was detected in a London pub. This action had been coordinated by a British suspect who was in Malaga, who sent a subordinate with the drugs to carry out the negotiations with the client.  This information, sent through the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom, alerted the Metropolitan Police of London, who arrested two people while they were exchanging a kilo of cocaine and five of marijuana.

In February 2022, a shipment of 200 kilos of marijuana buds destined for Norway was seized. In this operation, four members of the Polish organization were arrested, just as they were preparing the shipment on a farm in the province of Malaga.

A weapon and a cryptocurrency wallet were seized, as well as various drugs

Through international police coordination mechanisms, it became known that the Danish authorities had confirmed that the Danish citizen was behind the shipment of 40 kilos of cocaine received from Barcelona in mid-2020, initiating police cooperation aimed at ensuring that this individual was tried in both Spain and Denmark for his crimes.

As a result of the final exploitation, eleven people were arrested. During the searches, among other items, a handgun, more than a kilo of cocaine, more than a kilo and a half of hashish, a crypto wallet and various vehicles were seized.